Morals Die Slowly
by Pythonmelon
Summary: One hundred years after Earth has finally torn it's morals apart at the seams Vlad must battle Nos-4-a2 for a simple meal


As far as the eye good see, up to the mountainous horizon, the land was wasted. A dilapidated gray and yellow-brown city peered out at him like an injured monster. Nos-4-a2 shook his head, shamed that any species would let this happen to their planet.

This planet, ravaged and driven mad by nuclear warfare, was known as 'Earth'. The galactic alliance didn't dare touch it for fear of the plagues that had killed off so many billions of its populous. The still surviving city was like the glint in the eye of a dying creature.

God knew that some of them were trying to make interplanetary contact. Some of them would do anything to get off this rock. Others, unfortunately, were as animal as the acts that had delivered them into this hot mess.

The energy vampire was nearing his hundredth year and hated that he was hunting in the daylight. The world became dangerous at night. Even he had a chance of being torn apart by locals in the dark. What was left of him would be used for either cyborg parts or scrap vehicles.

That was one of the two soul reasons he had come to this wasteland- most of the few were partially cybernetic. The parts were poorly placed more often than not and ran on fossil fuels or nuclear fusion. He loved their vulnerability.

The other reason was that there was no real law enforcement. Nos had learned to value his life after too many run-ins with the rangers and chose to lay low. This was the best place he could escape to that offered a reasonable buffet. Wandering the blackened streets, he wondered what hapless human would find itself at his mercy today.

Vlad pulled his heavy cloak around himself tighter. While he normally hunted at night, there were certain circumstances that had pushed him into the danger of the sun. Luckily dusty acid rain clouds were threatening the sky and he wouldn't have to worry too long. It was arid, hot despite the dark. He hissed, licking his lips. Sometimes thirst drove you to do crazy things. For example- after the plagues had started, mixed with nuclear wars, he had reluctantly resorted to killing Mina Harper, the girl he had loved, at nineteen.

Part of that killing had been bloodlust and self-preservation, but mostly it was love. He had been saving her from the future he now dwelled in. That had been some hundred or so years ago, and it was still fresh in his mind.

The morsel that had driven him to hunt in the deadly light was fifteen. She had blonde hair and one icy blue eye. One side of her face and the right side of her torso were robotic. It didn't bother him- at this point a meal was a meal.

This girl was elusive. Her scent, fresh and young and uninfected, tantalized him around the mostly abandoned city. Somehow at night she hid from him, though. Now he had almost cornered her, ready for a succulent meal.

Suddenly a scream ripped through the cloudy silence. The count grimaced at the noise. This was a scream of terror, which meant she was about to be attacked. He knew it was probably another human or one of his own kind.

Vampires had had to reveal themselves after a while because food amounts dropped off the charts for the first time in hundreds of years. Some became ravenous monsters, while the more sensible ones like Vlad resorted to openly hunting and, when they had to, slaying competition. He hated it, but that's what it took to survive.

Now his next meal was in peril. He shifted, peering out the window so that his hood kept the remaining sunlight from burning him. An odd, mechanical monster seemed to be hypnotizing the girl. She had fallen to the ground, scooting away on her butt in raw terror.

"That's my kill!" He called immediately. The new adversary turned and let out a short mechanical roar. Vlad looked down at it, bewildered. He was suddenly unnerved but willing to fight.

Nos glanced up at whatever organic dared to claim his meal. There was what appeared to be another twenty-one year old human male, cloaked in a patchwork hood, hanging out the window of a crumbling office building. Were they resorting to cannibalism at this point?

The robot spared a moment to take a closer look at this naysayer. He was certainly unlike any human he had seen yet. The man in question had pale blue skin despite the usual blinding heat. His ears came to a point and there was a killer blackness in his eyes. Absently the creature licked its cold lips, revealing a set of fangs not unlike his own. He spared even more time to examine Vlad's vital signs- nothing.

He found no heartbeat, no reasonable body heat. All laws of nature proclaimed that this person should be dead. The energy vampire gave into curiosity- he spoke to the other thing that was after his meal. "And what, pray tell, do you want with her?"

The other vampire couldn't help but be astonished when the robot spoke. It had looked him over for a few moments as if to plot an attack. He never expected it to speak, and in such a human way! He glared at the robot. Where had it come from?

One thing he picked up on immediately was that the bot had no legs. It floated roughly two feet above the cracked concrete street. Its base came to a point, hidden beneath a maroon cape. He (It was a he, based on the accented voice.) was wringing a pair of silvery claws. It was as if he was wearing gloves.

The machine's face was next, oddly shaped into a triangle. There were smaller triangles at the top of his head that created the illusion of him having hair combed into a v-part. The left side of his face was dominated by a red monocle. It dwarfed to other eye by comparison.

Edging down his face, a pair of fangs became obvious. He had long snakelike forked tongue. On the bot's chin a goatee had been etched into the metal. This _thing_ that was trying to kill the girl had been made into the likeness of a vampire. How odd. He had never seen anything so advanced.

"To feed." Vlad answered, glaring. "I'm here to drink the girl's blood."

Nos almost laughed. An organic vampire? He had heard of such a thing but doubted their existence. Now he was preparing to fight one for the cyborg. Speaking of which, she was trying to escape. The energy vampire grabbed her by the collar of her old Abercrombie and Fitch jacket. He flew up to meet Vlad.

The girl was speechless, whimpering brokenly. She had known that there was a vampire after her, had assumed safety in the sunlight, but there was a new one now. One that could survive in the day. One that guaranteed a more painful death by draining her cyborg parts.

Nos smiled devilishly. On one hand he could let the vampire drink her blood and he could have the charge, or vice versa. But he wasn't the sharing type. "I think I've made it clear enough that she's as good as mine." He smirked.

The count growled, clenching and unclenching his fists. This was the closest he had gotten to feeding in days. His lip twitched angrily. He had been hunting for _days_ and was beginning to feel the effects of blood deficiency. "I've claimed her."

Nos tsked. "You treat this like a game." He cradled the girl and sat her up. "It's sad actually." Vlad went in to tackle the rival -4-a2 glanced away from where he was about to bite the girl and roared immediately. The count froze and backed away a little, almost scared. This robot could go from arrogant to dangerous in no time flat.

He didn't snap out of the apprehension until Nos had already bitten into his claimed kill. The girl kicked futilely, full of pain and horror. She screamed as her right side went limp. Nos finally drew away, sighing almost pleasurably.

This time the count (that title, it occurred to him, had expired many years ago.) didn't hesitate to attack the energy vampire. He took Nos by surprise, tackling him to the floor. The girl hit the floor and moaned, chest hitching, as her internal organs began to shut down. She was ignored for the moment.

Nos threw him off and against the wall. Vlad rubbed his head sourly when it cracked against the stone. He growled under his breath. This thing actually challenged his strength with it's own. He got up and went after the energy vampire again, only to be shot squarely on the stomach by an energy blast. He fell back, shocked by the sudden blast of electricity. For a second he even thought it kick-started his heart.

He came back to his senses when a quart of the girl's blood spattered itself onto his face. The vampire looked up, licking the delicious liquid off of his lips. He shook, hungrier than ever. It was too late.

Nos floated over him. The energy vampire had torn out the girl's throat as easily as ripping a piece of paper, splattering the stark red droplets onto the yellowing wallpaper. A pool of blood was forming on the ground beneath the girl. Her hands twitched, but Vlad knew it was only a reflex. The young woman they had been fighting over was dead.

He could almost feel the silence of her heart growing, engorging itself on his want for the spilt blood. It filled the room like a bubble, daring someone to break the delicate silence. Nos finally dropped the dead body and laughed sadistically at the count. "If you want her blood so badly, _lick_ it up."

With that statement he fled out the window, abandoning the vampire and the girl. Vlad finally rose out of his stupor and looked over the body in disappointment. He looked out the window and growled faintly. He backed into the shadows and out of the muted deadly light. He would hunt later. There was always another human waiting to be fed off of. In this day and age, morals died slowly.


End file.
